Countdown to Valentine's Day

 I just love this Valentine I found on Pinterest.

So I decided to make one for each of the boys.  

I only wish I could have found the scissors that cut the border out in the sample.

Just like an Advent Calendar, each day the boys will wake up to a treat inside their Valentine's Carrier on the back of their chair!

Love this idea!

Happy Birthday Dad!

 This weekend we celebrated my dad's 67th birthday.  Everyone knows that dad just loves Tim Horton's coffee!  So we decided to make him a Tim Horton's cake!

We also took a drive to "The Works" in Kingston for dinner!

A great restaurant... check it out here:

http://www.worksburger.com

Happy Birthday Dad!

Angry Birds Birthday Card

Griffin was invited to Joey's Angry Birds Birthday party on the weekend.

The invitation was very impressive, so I knew we needed to

 make a special Birthday Card for Joey.

The loot bags were just as impressive... filled with great Angry Bird Treats, 

including M&M's Angry Bird Poop!

Oh How I love the Bachelor!!!

The Bachelor has returned and it is as good as ever! 

Here are my top picks....

 Sarah

My favourite, but I don't think she wins

 Desiree

 ( but I think her boyfriend from home comes for her)

Lindsay

 

  Kacee

(I predict The winner!!)

 

Pinterest Pin Ups

 1/  Skinny Peanut Butter Yogurt Dip- YUM!!

Find the recipe here: DIP

 

 2/  Nutella French Toast with Strawberries... Double YUM!!

Find the recipe here: Toast 

 

 3/ Mini Tortilla Pepperoni Pizzas.... I think the boys would love these!

Easy to make: Pizza 

 

4/  Valentine Mason Jars... I'm thinking these would super cute 

for drinks on Valentine's Day

5/  Valentine's Garland

Pretty simple and cute!

What I'm Reading Right Now!

 

If you have never read a book by Jodi Picoult, you really should.  Jodi Picoult is hands down my favourite author, and her latest book "Lone Wolf" did not disappoint. 

Each of her books deals with an ethical/moral issue.  This book was about siblings who had different opinions on deciding whether to keep their father on life support after a car accident.  

If you are looking for more books by this author you can find them here:

http://www.jodipicoult.com/jodi-picoult-books.html

Not So Good News

I took Owen to the specialist on Tuesday for an update on his knee injury.  Tony and I were both convinced it was just a sprain. Owen had been walking on it, and not having any trouble with it.  Our only concern was that the knee was still swollen.

Dr. Ling examined the knee and requested more xrays.  After we waited and the xrays were taken, Dr. Ling broke the bad news.  Owen has a torn ACL.  Not exactly knowing how bad this was, I soon found out.  An MRI is required, I was told the wait list is long.  Hockey season is over for Owen, and he may possibly need surgery.

Heart breaking for a seven year old boy who's claim to fame is being the fasted kid in grade two.  He is devastated that he won't be able to play hockey!  We are too.

We are staying optimistic until we have the results of the MRI back.  Cross your fingers for us, that it is not what the doctor thinks it is!

Tbird's Ski-Sational Birthday Party

Although Tony really doesn't care about his birthday or about having a party, I do!

I planned a skiing party for Tony, and who would have figured, January 11th no snow, but rain and plus 12!

I quickly changed the plans to a bowling party, not as much fun, but certainly entertaining.  To liven up the event, there were team captains, nicknames for each bowler such as "Gutter Girl", or King Pin" and catergories including Granny Bowl, One Handed, etc.  This made bowling very funny to watch!

There were also prizes  to each bowler.

After bowling we headed to the Lone Star for nachos and embarrasing photos!

Happy Birthday Tony!

Jody and Lorne posing with the ball!

Backwards Bowling

Prizes and Scoring Boards!

The Captains

Catergories

A Ski Adventure to Remember

We dived in and bought ski equipment for the whole family with hopes that eventually we will be able to take ski vacations!

So far so good, the boys love it, and I am doing my best to try to like it. 

Until this weekend.....

While visiting my parents, Tony and I were going to hit the slopes on our own.  We bought our lift tickets, went to put on our ski boots and well I couldn't even get my boots on my feet.  I bought them two months earlier, they fit perfect.  I'm pretty sure my feet didn't grow, I am not quite sure what went wrong.  But I knew these boots were not fitting my feet.  Tony went skiing, I went back to Sport Check.  

Bad news, I found out that they don't make woman's boots pass 9.5.  Lucky me, I have to get men's boots.

The next day we took the boys skiing.  I was renting boots, they fit perfect, I went to get them fitted to my skis and well they don't fit!  In fact, my skis won't fit the size of boot I need. Yep, I then rented skiis. 

 I know what your thinking, this couldn't get any worse.  Wrong, on our last run, Owen fell, hurt himself and our skiing adventure was done for the day or so we thought.  Owen is a bit of a drama queen, so we took his pain with a bit of humour, but by bedtime we knew there was something more wrong.

Off to the hospital the next morning, 5 hours later, from the emergency room to the xray room, back to emerg to find out nothing was broken, but there was fluid on his knee and a possible ligament tear.  The doctor ordered a brace and crutches and no hockey.  If you know Owen at all, you know that this news didn't go over so well.

His biggest concern was of course hockey and then his title of being 

the fastest kid in grade two!!  

Not sure that there will be skiing anytime soon.... 

Owen goes to the specialist next Tuesday... fingers crossed, its just a sprain.

New Years Pinterest Resolutions!

This year there are a few things on my list of new years resolutions, things I would like to do, see, and get done, but as always I live by the saying 

"Once you know better, you do better". 

1/ On my list of to do, is to organize a crafting space that allows me to craft and create without having to make room and find space to create.  I love this space above, now I just need to make it work in the space I have.

 

2/  Such good advice, I thought I would share. 

 I learned some valuable lessons this year.  This advice sums it up.

 3/ Love this idea for getting the boys to acknowledge their trials and triumps!

Plus a great keepsake for the scrapbook!

 

4/ Sibling Love.... it ain't all that easy!

  Owen struggles with expressing his feelings (wonder where he gets that from!) and Griffin struggles with understanding why his brother is so mean to him.  

I'm wondering if this t-shirt just might do the trick.

 

 5/ Broccoli Chicken Pasta made with greek yogurt instead of creme!

Sounds like a great option

Happy New Year!

 We celebrated New Years Eve one day early at Great Wolf Lodge, but once we arrived home we headed over the Brookers for a New Years Eve celebration.

 The boys were very excited to stay up for New Years Eve!  Thank you to the Brookers for helping us stage a 10pm count down!

Here's looking to a year full of good health, happiness and fun!

Happy New Year Everyone! 

Looking back on 2012

2012 was a year to remember.  Looking back our family had so many highlights, but a few of our favourites include:

 1/ Owen and his team winning every game of the season and the Tyke Championship!

 

2/ Outdoor Winter Fun!

3/ Our family vacation to Disney World on March Break

4/ Me learning to ski again, and the boys loving it from the very first time!

5/ Halloween and trick or treating.  

Griffin was our ninja and Owen Chop Chop from Skylanders.

6/ Friendships!

7/ Visiting Old Montreal with the boys and them wanting to 

leave to make it back for their final soccer game of the season!

 

8/ The Boys spending most of the summer together!

 

9/ Visiting PEI and having the time of our life!  

So much fun, so much family time, so much love of Anne!

10/ Making time to take a cake decorating class.... and loving it!

11/ Autumn trip to Campbell's Apple Orchard... always a highlight of the season

12/ The Holiday Season!  

Love December and all the events, festivities, 

parties and traditions, the season brings!

Shh... It's a Surprise

 Tony and I surprised the boys with a getaway to Great Wolf Lodge on the weekend!  We didn't tell them until we were on the hiway that we were heading to Great Wolf Lodge.  They hadn't been there since they were 1 and 3, so they weren't really sure where they were headed they were just excited for a mini vacation.

 Once we arrived they were thrilled.  This resort is fantastic! The boys were very excited to explore and play in the water park!

 Violet greeted the boys in the morning at breakfast.  You can see they were thrilled!

 We spent a lot of time in the waterpark.  

There were many slides, a wave pool, lazy river and more.

 

 

In the evening, we took off to visit the falls all lit up.  We were thrilled that we didn't just get to see the falls but a magnificent light display that went on and on.  We voted and it was the best display we had visited this year!